She leaned away and looked at him in shock. “He handed me over?”
“There was some negotiation. You are still the official court musician, you will only have to attend the court once a week unless requested to attend for specific events.”
“What do I do around that schedule?”
He quirked his lips. “I thought you could help me with the family riding school.”
Elly shook her head. “I can’t ride.”
Eric grinned. “I know. I think that being mated to me and balanced can be beneficial for both of us. I get pointy ears, and you learn how to sit on a horse.”
She stared at him in surprise. “What does being balanced mean?”
“All of your magic is removed, all of my magic is removed, and then, it is mingled, divided and returned to us, sealed in place with a spell that fuses it to us.”
“That sounds... oh, wait. I know someone who has had that done.” She chuckled. “I know a few folks who have had that done.”
“Who?”
“The lord of winter and his wife, Nova. Yval and Drorik, she is exceptionally fun to be around. There are quite a few others that I was not introduced to, but I have performed on their children’s presentation to the king.”
He smiled. “Are the half-shifter’s cute?”
She sighed. “Adorable, they tend to have their father’s colouring, and their ears are smaller than the standard halfling, so with a good hairbrush, they could pass for human.”
“The ones who aren’t a more festive colour.”
“Yeah, that too.” She wrinkled her nose. “They could use a glamour, I am guessing.”
“Do you?”
Elly didn’t understand. “Do I what?”
“Use a glamour?”
She snorted. “You have seen me in my own mind, and I am pretty sure that I look very similar to what I am here.”
“You do, but I have always been mystified by all the hair and makeup and stuff. I wondered if any of it was done with magic.”
She smirked. “Only the magic of practice.”
He stroked her jaw. “You are an excellent performer.”
“Um. Thank you?”
Elly watched as his face got closer and closer to hers until her eyes crossed. The kiss was sweet and intense, and it got more so with every passing moment.
When his hand touched her breast, she jolted and pulled back, tumbling away from him and landing on the floor. Unfortunately, the towel remained on his lap.
Eric smiled and got to his feet, holding out the towel. “If you would like?”
She paused and returned to her pack, slipping on the wrapped silk that she used in lieu of a bra and panties. She pulled on a cotton dress and slipped on some sandals.
When she was dressed, she finally made eye contact with him.
Eric was smiling, and there was a warmth in his eyes. “Naked or clothed, you are still lovely and one of the most determined women I have ever encountered. Shall we get some breakfast?”
“Don’t you need a shirt or shoes?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Right. Fey establishment. I forgot for a moment.”
She stared as he pulled his shirt on and toed his shoes into position. “What do you mean by that?”
Eric smiled. “Shifters are much more casual about nudity. We have to get naked every time we shift, after all.”
“What about touching?”
He bent over to finish tying his shoes. “Touching is exceedingly intimate for us, but scenting is the precursor to everything. If we don’t like the scent of another shifter, we will get violent in order to keep them away from us or those under our care.”
She nodded and quickly went to brush her hair. To her shock, the braided hair didn’t get in the way of the brush. It slid from side to side as she worked and never tangled with the bristles.
He stood in the open bathroom doorway and waited. When she was ready, he held out his hand and pulled her toward him. He inhaled deeply against her neck, and a full-body shiver went through him.
She caught his scent and leaned in until her nose was touching his neck. The strange act of sniffing him was more intimate than the kiss, and she was blushing furiously when he pulled back.
“So, breakfast?”
Elly nodded. “That sounds like a safe thing to do.”
“Oh, Elenora, the things that I want to do with you are nowhere near safe. I suppose I shall have to pace myself.”
Her blush fired up again just when it had started to wane. “I think I am going to need to speak to the king.”
“Why?”
“Because if he didn’t authorize this, it will be worth my life to take you into my bed.”
He dug his right hand into his pocket, and he produced a small object. “He said you might mention that, so he gave me this.”
She looked at the marriage signet ring that the king used to formalize all of the unions that were executed in his realm.
“Oh. Well.”
Eric lifted her left hand, and he slid the ring into place. Elly could feel the power of the object pulsing on her hand.
She looked up at Eric with a grin. “That changes everything.”
With that stated and the official authorization for her to leave court and start a life of her own, she linked arms with her mate and went to get some breakfast. She planned on using up a lot of energy today, so fortification was critical.
Chapter Nine
She had finished eating and was with Eric, on her way to the Meditation Centre. They were going to make an appointment for their balance ceremony.
Since Elly was going to be performing for another few days, they were going to have to stay at the Crossroads. That meant that arrangements were going to have to be put in place to allow for their wedding intimacies.
Drak had made it quite clear, as he served them coffee, that they would have to complete their intimacies to set the magic. He had also congratulated them and told her that he would arrange for a wedding gown.
She had smiled and told him that she had a court gown that would do the job.
His smile indicated that he had a plan and he was going to carry it out, so she left him with his plots and schemes.
“Are you nervous?” Eric murmured it to her as they walked.
“About the bonding? No. The intimacy? Nope. You are not going to do anything that will endanger my trust, so that is all I would be worried about.”
He exhaled. “No pressure there.”
She grinned and squeezed his arm, her heart beat a little faster when his arm didn’t yield under her grip. “I just thought I should taunt you a bit as you knew how this was going to turn out.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“The king was. The seers would have told him, and he would have gone through the motions, including me needing the seal for proof that I wasn’t going to return with a price on my head.”
He nodded. “That would explain his lack of surprise, though he was very concerned about your state of mind after your ordeal. Once I had assured him that you were still the perky musical genius with a dedication to your fans and a longing for life away from court, he offered me your hand.”
“What about the rest of me?”
He paused on the street and placed his hands on her hips. “I insisted on the entire package. I wasn’t going to get you in instalments.”
She smiled and went up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him. She could feel his erection pressing against her lower abdomen as she let her torso plaster itself to his body.
She could taste the orange marmalade and coffee that he had just finished with his breakfast and him. His taste was all Eric, and Elly wanted to keep kissing him until the sun went down.
A voice nearby cleared its throat.
Elly slowly came out of the happy haze that she was in, and she broke the kiss, backing away slowly and lowering herself to the flats of her feet.
She turned her head slightly. “Oh, hi, Teal.”
“Hello, Elly.”
Eric rested his chin on her head. “Hello, Guardian.”
“Hello, Herd Master. Do you two have business at the Meditation Centre?”
He grinned and held Elly close. “Yes, yes, we do.”
“Elenora isn’t registered as a guest.”
Tony walked up behind his mate, and he cleared his throat. “That isn’t true, anymore. The fey court has registered her with the Crossroads, as long as Eric is the man that you choose.”
Elly smirked, still plastered to her choice. “I dunno. There are a few other shifters here that I could choo—”
She cut off her sentence as she was lifted off the ground and squeezed. “But I am sticking with my horsey.”
He slowly lowered her to the ground. “Good answer.”
She chuckled.
Eric spoke to the guardians. “We were coming to arrange a balance ceremony.”
Tony smiled. “Of course. With your particular blend of powers, Melwiss is the one for the job. Did you want to do it here or at the Isthmus?”
“What about at the amphitheatre, after my performance tonight?”
Teal grinned. “I think Melwiss would love taking in a concert. As long as we arrange a snack kiosk.”
Tony snorted. “I am on it. I will send a message to the tower.” He turned and left them.
Elly watched him go. “Is that it?”
“For that point of preparation, yes, but you still need to sign the contracts. Those we can get filed today.” Teal smiled and gestured toward the Meditation Centre, less than three feet away.
Elly blushed and slid her arm around Eric’s waist as they headed in to take care of the paperwork.
Elly wrote her signature on documents for the Crossroads, the fey archive and the shifter council. Eric followed, and Teal witnessed and stamped the documents, one by one.
Teal grinned. “Normally, we do this the other way around, but as you are with us for another week and your ceremony will occur after the concert, this is just simpler.”
“Will it take a long time?” Elly cocked her head.
“No, Melwiss is a tremendously powerful mage, and she will have you balanced in no time.”
Elly leaned forward. “Do I still get to wear a pretty dress?”
“Of course. Drak is positively giddy at the ability to make a gown for you.”
“He is making it himself?”
Teal chuckled. “He is. Court gowns are on his favourites list.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy at all.” She snorted.
“Really, he will create something to take your breath away.”
Eric turned from his perusal of their contract. His slow smile echoed in her heart.
She murmured, “That position is taken.”
Her nerves were jangling, and she didn’t give the most stellar performance of her life. However, when she finished the final song of celebration and sorrow, she lowered the flute and took her bow.
The crowd exploded into applause, and she remained on the stage until they had begun to rise and move around. She snapped her flute into its components and stowed it in its case.
“Elenora? May I have your autograph?” A young woman smiled at her and held out the image that Akin had been handing out.
“Oh, sure.” She smiled and signed the image and then the next and the next.
It was only when Teal intervened and shooed people away that Elenora had a chance to get the gown from under the stage and put it on using one of the first spells she had been taught. It wasn’t a transfer of matter; it was a high-speed undressing and dressing. It required precise positioning of the limbs and the ability to be very, very still.
Drak was indeed a master of dressmaking. The silk was dyed blue and purple, shot through with gold. It looked like she was wearing a night sky.
She smiled, and Teal gave her a thumbs-up. “Are you ready?”
Elly nodded. “Yes.”
The evening breeze tugged at her skirt and sent the outer layer floating behind her.
A slow tread of heavy feet crossed the stage, and she turned to greet her mate.
She blinked in surprise. While she hadn’t expected a tuxedo, the black knee-length toga with the loose swing of fabric crossing his bare chest and draping behind him, it did suit him. He hadn’t bothered with the tunic that normally went under it.
His black and blue hair was combed, loose and slightly wavy in the moonlight. The dark shade of his skin made him nearly invisible when the shadows touched him.
The wind taunted her skirts again, tugging her toward Eric.
The young woman with the bright eyes was still there, in the corner of Elly’s vision, but she ignored it while taking Eric’s hands and leaning up for a kiss.
A sweet voice rang out, “Well, it seems I have the right couple. Would you like to get this formalized?”
The young woman clutching Elly’s picture suddenly had the air of confidence and power around her.
The young man at her side smiled. “We are still working on manners.”
He stepped forward. “I am Andy, and this is my mate, Melwiss. She is the mage that will be performing your balance ceremony, and I must say, for your power signatures, you definitely chose a good venue.”
Elly looked at the woman who looked like she was just lucky to have gotten dressed, with her clothing in the right order. If it weren’t for the gleam of intelligence in her eyes, Elly would have doubted the mage.
“Pleased to meet you, Melwiss.”
The mage grinned. “If you are ready, each of you give me one of your hands and hold your mate’s with the other.”
Melwiss looked over her shoulder. “Everyone else had better get below shoulder level.”
Elly was bemused, but she paid attention.
“Elenora, do you take this shifter and give him all that you are and all that you will be?”
Elly looked at Eric. “I do.”
“Eric, do you take this half-elf and give her all that you are and all that you will be?”
His voice echoed in the space, “I do.”
“Hang on tight and don’t let go. This is where it gets a little crazy.” Melwiss’s eyes glowed, and the energy flowed from her and into them.
Elly felt hot, cold and electrified as power shifted around and around. The whirling of power took the path through the mage, but when Eric’s energy touched her, Elly’s body came alive.
“Now that the powers are mixed, I shall balance your energies, life for life, power for power, magic for magic.”
Elly could barely hear the words. She locked her gaze with Eric’s, and as the mix filled her up, a great pulsing of energy demanded to be let out.
Eric pulled her, and she jumped into his arms. Their kiss was hot, and dimly, she heard, “You are going to need to have sex in the next few hours, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Good luck and congratulations!”
The heat of the kiss worked on the urgency in Elly’s blood, and when the tension built to a climax, she squeaked and clung to him while their energies left her, swirled and then returned to her with a crushing heat.
Gasping, she leaned away from Eric.
He smiled. “A little privacy then?”
“Probably a good idea.” She smiled, and she could feel the shy twist to her lips.
Teal and Tony were leaning against each other and smiling. “For this evening, on that ridge, the management has constructed a honeymoon cottage for you. There are refreshments and necessities inside. Tomorrow, your regular rooms at the Axion are yours to enjoy.”
Elly looked over Eric’s shoulder, and a cottage was taking shape as she stared at it. “I love it. It’s adorable.”
Tony inclined his head, “It disappears when you leave it, so the sooner you lock your magic, the better.”
Eric nodded. “Gotcha. See you later.” He bent and lifted
her off her feet, carrying her off the stage and up the steps toward the cottage.
She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “It is a little embarrassing to think that this is the one day in my life that folks will know if I have had sex or not.”
He murmured softly. “Have you?”
“Yes, there was a young courtier who used a glamour on me in the court. When the king found out, the young man and his entire family were banished for five centuries to their ancestral home. It was not supposed to be a very pleasant place.”
“He was upset that you had sex?”
“He was horrified that it involved magic. They had thought that if they got me pregnant, it would elevate their position at court. Thank goodness for the injection that I got when I left school. Fey forget that there are practical human advances that they aren’t up on.”
He chuckled. “Their lack of foresight is my gain.”
“You aren’t concerned about the birth control?”
He grinned. “With the magic in our systems, your body is going to run at a thousand miles an hour. If manmade chemicals can keep up with them, they are amazing and deserve to be there.”
He had made it to the enchanted cottage, and he paused. “Open the door, please.”
She grabbed the handle and opened it, swinging the door inward.
A quick look around showed a bathroom door, a wide bed and a sideboard with some pitchers, glasses, and covered trays. Soft light was provided by floating orbs, and it was then that she realized why she had felt so at home in this design. It was a mock-up of her own bedroom in the palace, designed by the king himself.
“Something amuses you.”
She looked up at Eric as he settled her on the bed. “Yes, this place is familiar.”
“Good.” He crossed the room, closed the door and flipped the latch.
She reached over and felt the closure of her gown. With a light flick, it came loose, and she shrugged out of the dress, sitting in a puddle of gorgeous silk.
Eric exhaled sharply. She could see the flex of his abdominal muscles where they weren’t obscured by the drape of his toga.
“If it wouldn’t be too much to ask, could you return the favour?” She cocked her head.
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